Christina shrugged, not that she didn’t care, but what could she do? She wasn’t about to explain to every Tom, Dick, and Harry that he wasn’t Johnny, but was just a man she was having incredible sex with that looked a great deal like what Johnny probably would have looked like if he hadn’t died.
It was more trouble than she was willing to go to. “I’ll tell them you’re a distant relative of his, in town, for Christmas.”
“Okay. That could work. What about afterwards? Are you going to be ready to kick me out?”
Christina studied him. “I like you, Jack. But I have a daughter who will be home on Christmas day. I can’t be making love on the kitchen floor with her in the house.”
Jack grinned. “What about the sofa?”
Christina giggled, and shook her head. “Nope.”
“The shower?”
Excitement tingled over her skin. “Certainly not.”
“Maybe even the bed?”
Christina looked back as Mike and Karen Canterfield stepped out of the Piggly Wiggly. She nodded at them but turned around again, not giving them a chance to speak. She took Jack by the arm and walked to the other side of the store’s front. “That would be a no, also. But I fully expect you to try out all those places with me before Lisa makes it home.”
Chapter Twelve
Just as she’d expected, the citizens of Legend gave her and Jack silent, shocked stares. She smiled at each and every person she knew, but continued to do her shopping in silence with Jack at her side like a sentinel. She was afraid to look at him. She’d already caught him scowling at Pita Jean Harrison, one of Legend’s busiest bodies. And it took all she had in her not to laugh.
With her basket filled, and people still sneaking peeks around isle corners, she waited as Betty Jo rang up her purchases. The woman never took her wide eyes off Jack as she slid one item after another over the scanner. She blinked when she was finished as if coming out of a trance.
She turned her head towards Christina, her gaze took a little longer. “That’ll be seventy-four, fifty-three.” She turned back to Jack, a questioning smile touching her lips. “Is it you?”
Jack grinned. “It’s me.” He reached out his hand, and waited as she took it to shake. “Jack Doe. I’m a distant relative of Christina’s late husband.”
From complete silence to chaos in one point three seconds. The people within the Piggly Wiggly were all around them, chattering about how much he looked like Johnny. About how tragic it was that such a wonderful young man was gone, about what a dear sweet girl Lisa was, and what a wonderful mother young Christina had turned out to be. On and on they went about how great it was that he’d come to visit his young cousin’s widow. Wouldn’t Margaret be thrilled? Did she know that he’d come?
Neither corrected them, or answered their inquiries as they were shot out, one after another, in such rapid succession that they were spared answering. Christina quickly peeled off the money and handed it over. She grabbed as many of the plastic bags as she could handle, glad Jack hadn’t needed to be told to do likewise.
With nods and smiles, she made her way through the throng of people, then on out the door as quickly as possible, not even looking back as she knew Jack was fast on her heels. In seconds she’d crossed Second Street and made it to her truck. She swung the bags over the side of the truck’s bed, making certain the bag with the eggs were placed gently amongst the other groceries. And with one grinning look at each other, she and Jack got in their respective sides.
As soon as their doors were shut she had the truck running, threw it in reverse, and spun around to make her way west, glad they didn’t have to go across Main Street in order to head home. There was no doubt about it now. The telephone wires in Legend would be on fire tonight.
It only took ten minutes to reach the farm’s entrance. Christina glanced at Jack, shaking her head as she maneuvered the rough, long, gravel driveway. “I’m sorry about that.”
Jack shrugged. “No sweat. It was kinda fun. Maybe I really am a relative.”
Christina shook her head. “I would have heard about you.”
“Maybe I’m the bastard child of Johnny’s grandfather or something.”
Christina laughed. “More likely the ‘or something.’ Both his grandfathers were ministers.”
Jack bit his bottom lip. “What if I was somehow related to him?”
Christina pulled to a stop in front of the old white clapboard farmhouse. “I guess it is possible. I just don’t think it probable. I’m talking to Johnny’s mother soon. We’re going to be the talk of the town, and I’m afraid word will get back to her. I don’t care if she is eight-hundred miles away.”
Jack lifted his hand, putting it over his heart. She tilted her head, watching him. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “Yes. I guess it’s just the healing process, but I get these twinges sometimes.”
Christina opened her door as Jack opened his. They met at his side of the truck. “Do you think you might need to see a doctor?”
“No!”
Christina smiled. “Do I detect a little fear?”
Jack grinned at her. “I’ve been poked, prodded, and had things stuck in me I don’t ever want to think about again. I’m fine. Let’s get these groceries in before they freeze.”
The afternoon turned to evening rapidly. Jack had taken it upon himself to gather firewood from outside, bringing it in and stacking it in the nook beside the stone fireplace. As soon as she’d put away the groceries she’d started a pot of chili and chopped a salad to chill in the fridge until dinner time, then went through the motions of writing out checks for the month’s small mound of bills.
She wrapped herself tightly in a thick sweater that had seen better days as the constant opening and closing of the door had dropped the temperature in the house. But she knew as soon as Jack was done they’d stoke up the embers, load up wood in the fireplace and have a roaring fire going which would reheat the house quickly. By the time they finished the meal and had taken their chairs in front of the fire for an after dinner drink, she knew it would be too late to call her mother-in-law.
Christina knew she was being a chicken, but the thought of telling her late husband’s mother about having taken in a man who looked like an older version of her son, and actually doing it were miles apart. She was afraid of what such a thing would do to Margaret. Would it get her hopes up? Would she condemn Christina for taking a man to her bed when there was still a small smidgen of hope that Johnny was still alive? Would she think Christina completely crazy, perhaps even a slut? She would hate to lose her mother-in-law’s good opinion.
Margaret had meant so much more to her than Johnny ever really had. If it hadn’t been for Margaret’s grace and help, she knew she would never have survived the last few years so well. Her own parents hadn’t exactly washed their hands of her, but they hadn’t really ever forgiven her for going against their wishes when she married Johnny, and the relationship was still cool between them. She hadn’t and wouldn’t ever let them know that they had been right about her being too young to marry. As far as she was concerned, it became irrelevant the day Lisa was conceived.
She watched as Jack carried in the last armload and turned to lock the front door. She couldn’t believe how well he was doing now and she’d wanted to touch him so many times throughout the afternoon after returning from town, but had restrained herself, telling herself she had to talk to Margaret first.
It was a relief to decide that she couldn’t talk to Margaret yet. At least not tonight. With her mother-in-law’s sister, Mary, and her husband there visiting, Margaret and Lisa would be completely busy, so there was little chance anyone would contact her either, before Christina got her nerve up. At least she hoped not. As far as she knew, Margaret didn’t keep close ties with anyone in Legend anymore, other than her sister. She’d moved on with a very active social life of her own in West Palm Beach. And why would anyone bother to call Mary Roberts just because her niece-in-law ha
d bought two boxes of condoms and had a “relative” visiting. Surely, no one would do such a thing. Lord, she hoped no one would!
She exhaled heavily, wondering if her motives were pure or selfish. Probably both, she decided, rising to join Jack where he stacked the last piece of wood. “I’ve made chili and salad. But I thought we might try out the sofa first.”
Jack turned to her with a smile. “Do we get to open box number one?”
Christina giggled and nodded. “Yes.”
“Give me a few minutes to shower and meet me there.”
Christina poured herself a glass of wine and waited. Feeling a little silly, she rose and went to the old radio that sat on the equally old table at the corner of the living room. Christmas tunes played softly as she returned to the sofa. With an eye towards neatness she scanned the room, then did so again, realizing she never really looked at the place she called home. There wasn’t much about the farmhouse that she’d changed in the years since Johnny brought her here to live.
There really hadn’t been the money for major updates, and she hadn’t ever really given thought to minor ones until she saw all the redecorating her neighbor Winnie Butler had done a couple of months before. The changes that she’d made hadn’t only included the house. She’d also caught herself a fine looking man who was moving to Legend to work for the sheriff’s department as soon as his contract was up with the ATF. Winnie and Tom were to be married in January, and as much as she wished her friend well, she envied her the new and exciting life she was about to start.
Which was not something she would have felt before meeting Jack.
She glanced back towards the door leading down the hall to the bathroom. Hearing the water being shut off, she bit her bottom lip, excited and a little nervous. It was true she barely knew him, though it felt like she’d known him for years, but she couldn’t help but wonder what if.
What if he was the man she was supposed to have in her life?
What if they gave more than sex a shot? Could it and would it lead to love?
She knew she liked him. A lot. And the sex was incredible–so incredible she was antsy to have him join her now. But what if that’s all they really had? Did she risk her heart again? Did she also risk Lisa’s?
“Hey.”
Christina looked up to find him standing before her, bare except for the white towel hanging low on his hips. The white terry cloth was bright against his dark skin, the folds barely long enough to cover him properly.
She grinned and rose to her feet. “I’m having wine. What can I get you?”
He flicked the closure of the towel, making it fall to the floor. “You.”
Christina approached him, taking him into her hand. “That sounds even better.”
Chapter Thirteen
His kisses were what dreams were made of, Christina decided, allowing him to make her dizzy as she stroked his penis, sandwiched between them. He released her lips and ground himself against her hand, and her hand against her belly. She slid her other hand to the small tattoo which had turned out to be a tiny nautical star. She had no idea what it symbolized, and doubted he did either, so she’d never mentioned the marking.
Jack pulled back, taking her hand from his sex, a no, no gleam in his eyes and the slight shaking of his head. “I want this to last more than two minutes, and that’s about all I’m gonna have if you don’t stop.”
Christina felt wicked, something both new and thrilling. She advanced on him and went down to her knees, grateful the braded rug offered protection from the hard floor. Jack growled as she grasped him again with one hand, cupping his balls with the other. Her thoughts flittered to the birthmark, but she knew she wouldn’t need to look to see if it was there.
Not only was Jack an entirely different personality than Johnny, he was hung slightly heavier. Though their size differences were minute, the weight, length and girth in her hand was not. And neither was Jack’s technique, something she was determined to master herself. She grinned up at him before taking the head into her mouth. Jack jerked, causing her to release him, but she pulled him back and sucked him deeply in.
Though new at this, she mimicked what he’d done to her, using her teeth to scrape, her tongue to soothe, and suction to entice. His growl of pain or approval encouraged her to continue, had her setting a pace that was slow and tantalizing, fast and hard, then slow and tortuous.
He grasped the sides of her head, pulling her way from him, then lowered himself to join her on the rug. “Lady, you can do that all night long if you want to, but I never get mine until you get yours.”
Since that suited her just fine, Christina allowed him to peel the old sweater from her shoulders, another thermal shirt from her body, and the sweat pants and panties from her hips and legs. His mouth went on a tour of discovery, finding spots that tickled, spots that soothed, spots the made her inhale sharply, and some that had her wanting that long, thick length of him inside her, filling her, revving her up, sending her into a spin so hard and fast she could only hold on for dear life.
He didn’t disappoint, bringing her to climax again and again, until exhausted, satiated, and more happy that she’d ever been in her life, Christina knew that she’d never wanted their time together to end.
For the following week, they continued working together, playing together, making love two, three, sometimes four times a day. The morning of Christmas Eve, she awoke nestled into his side, beneath his armpit, to find him staring at her.
“Tomorrow is Christmas.”
Christina nodded, sliding up to give him a gentle good-morning kiss. “I know.”
“I’ve been thinking about it and have decided that I should probably leave.”
The knock to her heart felt more like a horse’s kick. “No.”
Jack frowned down at her. “Your mother-in-law and daughter will be home tomorrow. How will it look if I’m all nestled cozy in your bed?”
Christina knew he was right, but she had never known a time of such joy as she’d shared with Jack over the past couple of weeks. “You could marry me.”
Jack sat up, taking her with him. He leaned against the old oak headboard as Christina settled into a sitting position facing him, her legs crossing ankle over and under calf muscle.
Jack studied her face as if committing it to memory. He took her right hand, playing with her fingers, studying them while his fingers worked in-between and around hers. Silence filled the room for several seconds. And she remained quiet also, knowing his mind was turning over and over what she’d said.
He finally glanced up at her, smiling sadly. “I would marry you in a minute. But we don’t know who I am, or anything about the life I lead somewhere else.”
Christina acknowledged his statement with a nod, but she wasn’t willing to give up so easily. “Then you stay here and we work it out until you remember.”
“And if I don’t?”
Christina untangled her legs and crawled forward to straddle him. “Then we work it out until we die. Eventually there has to be some way to allow us to make a family.” She searched his face. “If I’m not being presumptuous, and that’s really what you want, too.”
Jack kissed her long and hard, then held her tight against his chest. “I would love to live with you until I die. But what if your daughter doesn’t like me? What about the talk in town? I know you say you don’t care, but you do. I could see it in the embarrassment you experienced.”
Christina was satisfied to have their discussion with her face gently held against muscular chest. She was tempted to take a flat dark nipple into her mouth, but she knew they really needed to talk, and one wrong—or in this case, right—move on her part would have them doing the wild thing again and nothing but a shattering climax would get settled.
Personally, she wouldn’t mind. But Jack obviously needed to settle things for himself now. “Lisa will adjust. She loves everyone. And I was never ashamed of you. I just hadn’t ever bought condoms before and it seemed the entire to
wn showed up for the event. You have to understand, ever since Johnny went missing—according to the United States Marine Corps—and died—according to me—everyone knows I’ve played the tragic starring role as the perfect widow. I didn’t date. I didn’t socialize outside of Lisa’s school functions. To do so would have been inappropriate, and would have meant having to listen to how sorry everyone was, and how horrible it must all be for me, and on and on. So when I showed up at the drug store, out of the blue, they couldn’t help but wonder what in the world I was doing buying a box of condoms.”
“Two boxes.”
Christina giggled. “Two extra large size boxes of condoms, actually. The clerk couldn’t find the price and it wouldn’t scan.” She glanced up at him. “You can pretty much figure out the rest.”
Jack threw his head back as laugher rumbled out of him. Christina joined him, though even now her cheeks burned at the memory. “It wasn’t funny,” she said, catching her breath.
Jack shook his head though his eyes still held laughter. “No, I’m sure it wasn’t.” He sobered. “But what about the next time? This just proves my point.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Christina disagreed. “Next time you go in and buy the condoms.”
Chapter Fourteen
After a morning of intense lovemaking which in fact used up the last of the two boxes of extra large condoms, Christina got busy cooking treats for tomorrow’s desserts, repeatedly checked to make sure her turkey was thawing at the appropriate rate for tomorrow’s roasting, and did a little light cleaning with Jack’s help in preparation for Lisa’s homecoming and Margaret’s visit.
Christina stepped onto the front porch, needing a moment to herself to take in the chill flowing down from the white coated Appalachian mountains. She bit her bottom lip, wondering if it would be possible to make a quick dash back to the drug store before the roads became too dangerous.
The temperature had dropped steadily all day as heavy gray clouds moved in quickly, darkened the sky, bringing night early. Lighter snow had given way to ice, mixed with snowflakes which had increased in size and weight. The forecasters were spouting, “Blizzard!” from every local and national news channel and from the oppressive pressure in the air she was afraid they were right.
A Legendary Christmas Page 20